Olympic Football

Football seems to be rather unloved at the Olympic games. Of all the tickets that went on sale for the 2012 Summer Olympics it is the football ones which have proven hardest to shift - which is odd, because it is the one event I've actually bought tickets for. Partly this was because it is the only event within easy travelling distance for me (I've gone for tickets at Hampden Park in Glasgow) but also it is because I was still smarting at the stupid ticket allocation for Euro '96.

I was living in Newcastle at the time Euro '96 was held although my job was taking me around Scotland more often than not. I fancied getting tickets for the matches at St James Park but was unable to get my hands on any. France were based in Newcastle so that seemed understandable. However, when the matches came on the stadium was half empty. The most annoying thing was that I ended up watching the first match in the Strawberry pub immediately outside the ground which was packed to the rafters. The organisers claimed they had sold all the tickets but that the ticket holders hadn't attended the games. As it turned out, the ticket holders were corporate buyers who had bought tickets for the group games only to get their hands on the meatier seats for the quarters, semis and final. The ordinary fan was left out in the cold (or inside the pub, anyway).

The Olympics do seem to have been organised better but I am still perplexed at the lack of enthusiasm for the football. It's mainly an under-23 competition and qualification tends to be from the under-21 competitions in the preceding year. As the qualifying teams have yet to be decided, let alone the games allocated, I have no idea who I will be seeing. I do know that I will be seeing two games in Glasgow so it could be Spain and Brazil but, equally, it could be someone less glamorous. Nevertheless, we could well be seeing the basis of some of the top teams from the next World Cup (or possibly the one after).

I've gone for two tickets. One for me and one for my eldest son who will be 10 next year. I've been planning on taking him to a big match for a while but the Scotland Games at Hampden sell out quickly and the atmosphere at Scottish Premier games in the past year (particularly those involving the Old Firm) has been rather poisonous. There are plenty of smaller clubs to chose from and both my boys have played on the plastic pitch at Stenhousemuir - a club that does see themselves as a centre for the local community. However, there is a big difference between the atmosphere that can be created by 500 fans in Ochilview Park and the noise that can be created at a packed major stadium. I'm hoping it will be a day to remember: both for seeing football played in a first class stadium and to see a small part of the Olympic Games first hand.